Andre Villas-Boas has given a clear indication of his intention to use Gareth Bale solely as a midfielder, after switching the Welshman out of defence during Tottenham's 2-1 win over QPR at the weekend.

Bale, who arrived at Spurs from Southampton as a defender in 2007, has had his pace used to full effect as a winger in more recent times but an injury to Benoit Assou-Ekotto has left Villas-Boas short of cover at left-back.

For that reason Bale was switched to the position he used to compete for with Assou-Ekotto earlier in his Spurs career, but with Spurs trailing 1-0 at the break on Sunday Villas-Boas pushed the 23-year-old further forward and the results were evident.

Bale had a direct hand in both goals which reversed the result in Spurs' favour, and his input from his more advanced position appears to have convinced Villas-Boas that he is much better used on the wing rather than as a raiding full back.

"We thought he would give us more width," said Villas-Boas as he explained his decision to start with Bale playing from further back.

"But we were much steadier in the second half when we made changes."

Tottenham face Carlisle in the Capital One Cup on Wednesday before a trip to Old Trafford to take on Manchester United in the Premier League on Saturday.